In the mining industry conveyors are used to transport large quantities of the material mined. Conveyor belt cleaner blades are employed to clean the longitudinally extending surface of the conveyor upon which the material rests. These blades are formed of a resilient flexible material (such as polyurethane) and scrape against the surface of the belt to remove material therefrom. These are a high wear item and require regular replacement.
The abovementioned blades are mounted on a support located adjacent an end extremity of the belt. The blades are mounted on the support by longitudinal sliding movement along the support. That is the support has a longitudinal projection that is received within a corresponding recess in the mounting portion of the blade.
To replace the blades, the blades need to be removed from the support. This is achieved by sliding the blades longitudinally along the support until they reach the end of the support wherefrom they can be removed.
Typically an operator will reach or climb into a housing containing the blades and move the blades by hand along the support. This is time consuming and can also be dangerous.
Attempts have been made to address the above problems by providing hooks and other items that engage the end face of the blade to be removed. However this has its own problems in that only the very end blade is easily engaged since it is the only blade with an exposed end face. To address this problem frequently a wedge (screwdriver) is driven between adjacent blades to separate the blades to enable one or more of the blades to be engaged. To do this the operator needs to reach into the housing. Typically they are engaged by a hook, that is a rod with a right angle end portion that abuts the blade or blades to be removed.